Thursday, October 8, 2009

OPPORTUNITIES TO SHARE

A very, very dear friend of mine spent a lot of time last year in hospital with her darling little fifth baby. He had multiple issues - and the strain on the family was more than they believed they could bear on their own.

When baby came home and family were all together again, the Mummy shared with me that the God had kept them in a "bubble" so they were able to survive without falling apart.

They had the opportunity to speak with, and share their faith with many people during this time.

After a few years of listening to many messages by Ray Comfort of Living Waters ministries, and since hearing how our friends shared their faith - we have been more conscious of opportunities to minister to others and share our faith as we are able.

Last week we bought some "Million Dollar Note" tracts from Living Waters NZ and yesterday I handed my first one out to a lady who works at our local shop. She was a Christian! I never knew that!

My next opportunity to share really hit me without warning (as they do).

The lady at the petrol station who was helping me fill our van with petrol (the smell of petrol is something that I would prefer not to inhale right now!) suddenly said to me "You have a lot of children."

I said "Yes!"

She had a lot of pain in her eyes as she said "What a terrible world to be bringing them into."

It transpired that she had a son of 26 who was murdered and she said "If I had my time again I would never have children - I would never bring them into this awful evil world."

I started to speak to her about the fact that yes - the world IS evil, but we don't have children FOR THE WORLD. We have our eyes on eternity.

We don't have children for our own pleasure - but the Lord blesses us by giving us a great deal of pleasure from our children. We have our children to honour and serve God.

And then she said to me "But will THEY survive the tribulation?"

Wow - it was certainly a very deep conversation to have, standing next to a petrol pump, while customers came and went all around us and she seemed oblivious to anything else but our conversation.

Afterwards I was stunned that I had the right words to say to her - I shouldn't have been. God has promised that he will give us the right words, at the right time.

From Luke 12: 11 and 12. " ... , do not worry about how or what you should answer, or what you should say. For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour, what you ought to say."

Words from sermons came flooding back to me, and God's messages from His word about the manna in the dessert, and Paul's words to the churches and more.

I guess that having our sixth baby is putting us out there - not quite living in a glass house - but people know that something about us is different, just by looking at us.

And I am excited about the next opportunity that God gives us to share.